Closings could complicate weekend travel on rail, I-45 and U.S. 290

Construction planned for this weekend will shut down Houston’s light rail system and could add travel time along two major freeways.

A woman waits for a train at the Metro Rail Red Line Moody Park Station on Dec. 27. ( James Nielsen / Houston Chronicle )

Starting Friday night at 8:30, Red Line trains will stop running north of the Downtown Transit Center at 1900 Main Street, the Metropolitan Transit Authority said in a release. Buses will carry riders beyond the transit center.

The entire line, from the Northline Transit Center north of Loop 610 to Fannin South near Reliant Stadium, will shut down from 9:15 p.m. Saturday to 9 p.m. Sunday, to allow for construction along the route and at a nearby hospital. If workers cannot reopen the line at 9 p.m., buses will ferry riders until Monday morning, Metro officials said.

Work along the Grand Parkway at the tollway’s interchanges with Interstate 45 and U.S. 290 will also lead to some closings and delays. At I-45, crews repainting lanes will shift traffic and close some lanes starting at 8 p.m. Friday, in advance of shifting the northbound lanes west. The alternating closures will last until 6 a.m. Monday.

The shifted northbound lanes will have the same number of lanes as the current freeway and frontage roads, officials said. The move is intended to give crews space to work on the interchange until April 2015.

At the other end of the Grand Parkway project, crews will close the eastbound lanes of U.S. 290 Thursday night at 8 p.m. to place beams for an overpass. The lanes will reopen at 6 a.m. Friday, then close again from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday.